Armed Forces: Retired Officers

Lord Marlesford: To ask Her Majesty's Government when the decision was taken, and on what grounds, to exclude retired officers from appointment as Regimental Secretaries and in the initial stages of the recruitment process to confine the issuing of application forms for these posts to those in the home Civil Service.

Lord Astor of Hever: Retired officers are not excluded from appointment to the post of Regimental Secretary.
	Regimental Secretaries are classed as Military Support Function posts within the Civil Service. In accordance with Civil Service recruitment policy, these posts are advertised internally within the Civil Service in the first instance. If no suitable candidate can be found, posts can then be advertised to the general public, including retired officers.
	However, we are currently examining the way in which appropriate personnel can be employed as Regimental Secretaries

Banking

Lord Myners: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they have specifically raised with other governments the need for greater disclosure by banks of high-level remuneration; and, if so, what responses they have received.

Lord Sassoon: Remuneration disclosure has been discussed as part of the Government's dialogue with other jurisdictions and on 30 November 2010 the Chancellor wrote to counterparts in the European Union calling for urgent consideration of proposals to strengthen remuneration disclosure. While there is a range of views among the international community, there is consensus and support for an internationally consistent approach to remuneration disclosure.

Banks: Green Investment Bank

Baroness Smith of Basildon: To ask Her Majesty's Government what role the Green Investment Bank will play in promoting and supporting energy efficiency.

Baroness Wilcox: It is expected that the Green Investment Bank (GIB) will focus on mobilising additional capital into a wide range of "green" infrastructure and the deployment of late-stage technologies. While there are no plans for the GIB to play a wider role at this stage, for example in energy efficiency, that remains subject to further review and market testing.
	Meanwhile, the Government have just introduced legislation to implement the Green Deal-the coalition's flagship policy for energy efficiency, which will help households and businesses to install energy efficiency measures at no upfront cost and repay through energy bills.

Banks: Green Investment Bank

Baroness Smith of Basildon: To ask Her Majesty's Government when they expect the Green Investment Bank to be operational.

Baroness Wilcox: As set out in the BIS structural reform plan, the Green Investment Bank (GIB) will be operational by September 2012. We are, however, looking to begin making investments as soon as the GIB receives funding from asset sales.

Banks: Lending

Lord Myners: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they will require the Lloyds Banking Group and Royal Bank of Scotland to enter into new lending commitments; and whether they propose to require other United Kingdom banks to sign similar commitments to extend loans to creditworthy borrowers on commercial terms.

Lord Sassoon: The lending commitments agreed between the Government and Lloyds Banking Group (LBG) and Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) are in place until March 2011.
	The Government recognises that access to finance is essential if businesses are to invest, grow and make an important contribution to supporting the economic recovery.
	In response to the Green Paper, Financing a Private Sector Recovery, published earlier this year, the Government have set out a comprehensive package of Government and industry-led measures to support small businesses access finance. These measures include:
	additional support for the enterprise finance guarantee over the next four years to enable over £2 billion of lending to viable small businesses that lack collateral or track record; and
	increased equity finance, through £200 million of additional funding for the enterprise capital funds programme, both of which could unlock further debt finance for small and medium-sized businesses.
	More information about these measures and the Green Paper is available at http://www.bis.gov.uk/businessfinance.
	In addition, the British Bankers' Association (BBA) taskforce has announced industry-led measures, including improving customer relationships through a new lending code and the establishment of new £1.5 billion business growth fund, which will provide capital to growing businesses.
	Further information about the BBA taskforce and its commitments are available at http://www.bba.org.uk/media/article/business-finance-taskforce.

Banks: Stress Tests

Lord Myners: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether, in the light of the Irish banking sector problems, they will make representations to the Committee of European Banking Supervisors (CEBS) to increase the intensity and range of the bank stress tests conducted by CEBS, including a requirement that it also develop tests for funding and liquidity.

Lord Sassoon: The Committee for European Banking Supervisors, which becomes the European Banking Authority in 2011, are scheduled to conduct another stress-testing exercise next year.
	The Government agrees that the methodology for the stress-testing framework should be both rigorous and credible. The framework is currently under review and the Financial Services Authority is actively engaging with that review.

Benefits

Lord Taylor of Warwick: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether, following their child benefit reforms, a parent would lose their child benefit if a wealthy grandparent were to move into the family home.

Lord Sassoon: Child benefit will be withdrawn from families where the claimant or their partner (with whom they are living) is a higher rate taxpayer. As such, the income of a grandparent, or any other member of the household who is not the claimant or their partner, would be irrelevant.

Benefits

Lord Watson of Invergowrie: To ask Her Majesty's Government how many people are currently claiming jobseeker's allowance while studying part-time at college in (a) England and Wales, (b) Northern Ireland, and (c) Scotland.
	To ask Her Majesty's Government how many people claimed jobseeker's allowance while studying part-time at college in (a) England and Wales, (b) Northern Ireland, and (c) Scotland, in each of the five years between 2005 and 2010.

Lord Freud: This information is not currently collected centrally.

Benefits

Lord German: To ask Her Majesty's Government how many people living in residential care have completed a work capability assessment and were (a) judged fit for work, and (b) placed in the work-related activity group.

Lord Freud: The information requested is not available as the department does not hold data on people receiving employment and support allowance who live in residential care.
	The department regularly publishes official statistics on the work capability assessment. The last report was published in October 2010 and can be found on the Department for Work and Pensions website, here: http://research.dwp.gov.uk/asd/workingage/index.php?page=esa wca
	Any ESA claimant who is terminally ill is automatically placed in the support group.

Benefits

Lord Taylor of Warwick: To ask Her Majesty's Government how many 16 to 24 year-olds currently claim jobseekers allowance.

Lord Taylor of Holbeach: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the authority to reply.
	Letter from Stephen Penneck, Director General for ONS, to Lord Taylor, dated December 2010.
	As Director General for the Office for National Statistics, I have been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Question asking how many 16 to 24 year olds currently claim jobseeker's allowance (HL4889)
	The Office for National Statistics (ONS) compiles the number of claimants of Jobseeker s Allowance (JSA) from the Jobcentre Plus administrative system.
	In October 2010 there were 416,390 people aged 16 to 24 claiming JSA in the United Kingdom.
	National and local area estimates for many labour market statistics, including employment, unemployment and claimant count, are available on the NOMIS website at http://www.nomisweb.co.uk.

Benefits: Disability

Baroness Thomas of Winchester: To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the number of recipients of higher-rate mobility disability living allowance in residential homes who have all their mobility needs met either by those homes or by local authorities at no extra charge.

Lord Freud: Local authorities have a duty to carry out an assessment of need for community care services for individuals. Based on that assessment, a decision is made as to which of those assessed needs should be met by specific services.
	Some care home residents will be in receipt of DLA higher-rate mobility. There are a number of funding streams, legal duties, contractual obligations and service levels to take into account.
	We estimate that approximately 80,000 people who claim disability living allowance and live in residential care will be affected by the measure to cease paying the mobility component in Great Britain from October 2012.

Driving: Licences

Lord Lucas: To ask Her Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the percentage of requests to surrender a licence that are sent to a driver's current address.

Earl Attlee: Drivers are required to provide their current address details to the police and courts. If the driver fails to surrender their licence to have the endorsement details recorded, the courts will write to the address provided by the driver. On receipt of a court notification, where the licence has not been surrendered, DVLA will check its records to establish whether it has a different address to that provided by the court. If the address held on the record is different, DVLA will write to both addresses requesting the return of the licence.

Driving: Licences

Lord Lucas: To ask Her Majesty's Government on what basis the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency have decided upon a 28-day time limit for the surrender of a licence.

Earl Attlee: The time limit for the surrender of a licence by a convicted driver is in effect much longer than the 28-day period. Prior to notifying Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) of the driver's conviction details, the court will already have made at least two attempts to obtain the licence from the driver.
	On receipt of the notification from the court, DVLA will write to the driver requesting that the licence be surrendered and advising him that he has a further, final 28 days to comply before the revocation takes effect.
	This is considered a reasonable timeframe to enable a driver either to locate their licence and post it to DVLA or for the driver to submit an application for a duplicate licence if the original has been lost.

Education: Teacher Training

Lord Boswell of Aynho: To ask Her Majesty's Government , as part of their forthcoming changes to the higher education framework, whether they will provide for a single "portal" for student applications, whether for full or part-time study.

Lord Henley: Lord Browne's review of Higher Education Funding and Student Finance recommended that there should be a single portal for university and student support applications. This recommendation will be considered as part of a Higher Education White Paper which will be published this Winter.

Embryology

Lord Alton of Liverpool: To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answers by Earl Howe on 30 June (WA 282) and 23 November (WA 297), how the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) scrutinised the cloning of embryos using nuclei from a patient with type 1 diabetes and concluded that this could "be applied in developing treatments for serious disease", if the steps to be taken to counteract the autoimmune response have never been detailed in any relevant research application submitted to the HFEA.

Earl Howe: The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority has advised its licence committees consider all applications for licences for human embryo research in accordance with the criteria set out in the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990, as amended. The grounds for a committee's decision are recorded in the relevant minutes, which are published on its website at: www.hfea.gov.uk.

Embryology

Lord Alton of Liverpool: To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Statement by Earl Howe on 24 November (WS 101-2), which individuals either currently or recently employed by the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority were also present at the relevant meeting of the authority's Research Licence Committee on 14 September 2006; and which of these individuals have assisted in responding to requests for information.

Earl Howe: The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) has advised that the members of staff present at the Research Licence Committee meeting on 14 September 2006 were identified in the minutes that the noble Lord has previously examined. The HFEA has also advised that it has no further comment to offer on the conduct of that meeting.
	The HFEA has further advised that it does not comment on the involvement of individual members of staff in the course of the normal discharge of their duties on behalf of the authority.

Embryology

Lord Alton of Liverpool: To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answers by Baroness Thornton on 27 January (WA 338-9) and by Earl Howe on 12 November (WA 143), what was initially communicated as the anticipated date for completion of the report pertaining to the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority's (HFEA) internal governance review; on how many subsequent occasions the proposed date for completion of this report has been postponed; what were the reasons for the delays in each instance; on what date the report will be officially presented to the HFEA; and how soon thereafter the report will be published.

Earl Howe: The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) has advised that its internal governance review was initially agreed at a meeting of the authority on 13 May 2009. No date for the completion of the review was agreed at that time. The minutes of that meeting and the review's terms of reference are published on the authority's website. The HFEA has also advised that the review report is expected to be available in the new year and will be published once the authority has considered it. The review has taken longer than originally anticipated, both because of the volume of material to be examined and constraints on the resources available to undertake the review.

Embryology

Lord Alton of Liverpool: To ask Her Majesty's Government why the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) permitted the Centre for Reproductive and Genetic Health (CRGH) to import donated eggs from Russia prior to either its proposed meeting in December or publication of the promised public consultation within which issues related to gamete donation were to be discussed; and when a copy of the HFEA's inspection report made after visiting the Altra Vita clinic in Moscow will be placed in the Library of the House.

Earl Howe: The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) has advised that the import referred to in the noble Lord's question was carried out pursuant to Direction 0006, published on the authority's website. Direction 0006 requires that imports of gametes to the United Kingdom from the European Economic Area and Gibraltar meet standards introduced by the European Tissue and Cells Directives (Directives 2004/23/EC, 2006/17/EC and 2006/86/EC) and apply those same standards to imports from countries outside that area. Under Direction 0006 the import of gametes does not require prior authorisation by the HFEA.

Embryology

Lord Alton of Liverpool: To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answers by Earl Howe on 24 November (WA 339-40), when the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority first required that non-confidential information should also be kept confidential; which licensed centres have requested this practice; what information was conveyed by the authority to any newspaper reporters regarding incidents at centre 0102; and when the authority sought prior agreement of complainants at centre 0102 before disclosing relevant documents.

Lord Alton of Liverpool: To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Earl Howe on 24 November (WA 339-40), and in view of their proposal to transfer to other bodies the functions of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA), when the conclusions of the HFEA's investigation of a complaint regarding incidents at centre 0102 are expected to be made available; when the authority first began to investigate this complaint; and whether an anticipated date for resolution of the complaint has already been communicated to centre 0102.

Earl Howe: The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) has advised that it follows established good practice with regard to confidentiality in the handling of complaints and when responding to requests for information, subject to relevant legislation. Statements regarding incidents at centre 0102 are published on the HFEA's website.
	HFEA has also advised that a complaint regarding the authority's handling of the investigation into incidents at centre 0102 was received on 5 February 2010. The findings of the HFEA's investigation were made available to the complainant on 18 March 2010.

Environmental Protection Advisory Committee

Lord Rowlands: To ask Her Majesty's Government what was the cost in 2009-10 of the Environmental Protection Advisory Committee.

Lord Henley: The Environmental Protection Advisory Committee advises the Environment Agency on how to carry out its regional environmental protection and resource management work. This could be through responses to consultations, or general advice on the business, approach or priorities of that region.
	There are seven regional committees for England and one for Wales.
	Each committee has a chair, paid approximately £18,000 (for five days per month) in 2009-10. Other costs include chairman and Members' expenses, and support and administration costs.
	
		
			  England Wales 
			 Chairman's salary £123,487 £17,641 
			 Chairman's national insurance £10,500 £1,500 
			 Chairman and Members' expenses £12,355 £7,997 
			 Meeting costs £8,059 £3,024 
			 Postage and printing (estimate) £3,430 £490 
			 Staff costs (estimate) £35,000 £5,000 
			 Total £192,831 £35,652

Food: Codex Alimentarius

The Duke of Montrose: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether the level of irradiation allowed by the Codex Alimentarius is effective in reducing the risk of bacterial contamination or whether it should be augmented.

Earl Howe: The Codex General Standard for Irradiated Foods (CODEX STAN 106-1983, REV. 1-2003) states that "The maximum absorbed dose delivered to a food should not exceed 10 kilogray (kGy), except when necessary to achieve a legitimate technological purpose". Doses up to 10 kGy will substantially reduce the number of viable bacteria in the majority of cases and the Codex standard allows for higher doses where there is a legitimate need. However, although irradiation can help to reduce the level of bacterial contamination in food it should not be seen as a replacement for good manufacturing practice and should only be used as part of a wider hazard analysis and critical control point plan.
	The exception to exceed 10 kGy "when necessary to achieve a legitimate technological purpose" was based on the findings of a joint study between the Food and Agricultural Office, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the World Health Organisation. This study concluded that there was no detrimental effect to the look and texture of dried herbs and spices from higher doses of irradiation and that these higher doses could reduce the risk of bacterial growth for certain pathogens which have been shown to be more resistant to radiation treatment.
	It should also be noted that these changes to the Codex standard have not been adopted by European Directive1999/3/EC which limits the irradiation of dried aromatic herbs, spices and vegetable seasonings to a maximum overall average absorbed dose of 10 kGy. This was endorsed by the findings of the European Scientific Committee on Foods in 2003 which concluded that there was insufficient evidence to recommend the removal of the upper limit of 10 kGy.

Further Education: 16-hour Rule

Lord Watson of Invergowrie: To ask Her Majesty's Government what is their assessment of the effect of the 16-hour rule on the incentivisation of unemployed people seeking to gain qualifications through part-time study with a view to re-entering the workforce.

Lord Freud: Jobseekers can undertake part-time education or training at any point in their claim and continue to receive jobseeker's allowance as long as they continue to meet the basic conditions of entitlement; that is, to be actively seeking and to be available for full-time employment.
	Jobseeker's allowance is designed to support claimants during their job search activity. Claimants of jobseeker's allowance must therefore be available for and actively seek employment as their main activity and must be prepared to take up the offer of a job at short notice. Jobseekers generally have to be available to take up work immediately for a minimum of 40 hours per week.
	Where it is identified that a job seeker has barriers to work caused by a lack of skills, this may be tackled through more structured provision. These jobseekers can be actively supported from day one of their claim for jobseeker's allowance to gain skills necessary to improve their chances of work.
	This approach maintains a balance between allowing unemployed people to access training and ensuring that it does not compromise their availability for work or reduce their job-search activity.

Further Education: 16-hour Rule

Lord Watson of Invergowrie: To ask Her Majesty's Government what advice they have issued to the devolved Administrations to ensure that the 16-hour rule relating to part-time study is interpreted consistently across the United Kingdom.

Lord Freud: The Government have not issued any specific advice to the devolved Administrations.
	All Jobcentre Plus staff are given the same appropriate advice and guidance relating to full-time and part-time study to ensure that the rules are followed consistently and applied to all customers regardless of where they live.

Government Departments: Staff

Lord Stoddart of Swindon: To ask Her Majesty's Government what are the numbers and percentages of male and female employees in (a) each government department, and (b) non-departmental government bodies.

Lord Taylor of Holbeach: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the authority to reply.
	Letter from Stephen Penneck, Director General for ONS, to Lord Stoddart, dated December 2010.
	As Director General for the Office for National Statistics, I have been asked to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question concerning the numbers and percentages of male and female employees in (a) each Government department, and (b) non-departmental government bodies. [CO] HL4990
	Civil Service Statistics are published annually by the Office for National Statistics on the National Statistics website.
	The number and percentage of male and female employees in each government department are shown in the table. A copy will be placed in the Library of the House. Statistics for non-departmental government bodies are not available.

Government: Ministerial Visits

Lord Ashcroft: To ask Her Majesty's Government what were the names and positions held of the business leaders who accompanied the Prime Minister on his visit to China.

Baroness Wilcox: The Prime Minister was accompanied by four Cabinet Ministers and 49 business, education and cultural leaders on his visit to China, 9-10 November 2010. These were:
	The Chancellor of the Exchequer;Secretary of State for Business Innovation and Skills;Secretary of State for Energy; Secretary of State for Education;Pat Tindale, CEO, 4energy;Stefano Pessina, Executive Chairman, Alliance Boots;Philip Dilley, Chair, Arup;Graham Cartledge CBE, Chairman, Benoy;David Frost, Director General, British Chambers of Commerce;Sir David Brewer CMG, Chairman and CEO, CBBC;Lord Powell, Chairman, Asia Task Force;Jim McColl, Chairman and CEO, Clyde Blowers;Paul Walsh, CEO, Diageo;Clive Martell, Managing Director, Delcam;Sir Nigel Knowles, CEO, DLA Piper;Sir Kevin Smith CBE CEO, GKN;Ulf Henriksson, CEO, Invensys;Ken Shuttleworth, Founder, Make Architects;John Russell, CEO, Manganese Bronze Holdings;John Whittaker, Chairman, Peel Holdings;Ben Gordon, CEO, Mothercare;Paul Priestman, Director, Priestmangoode;Dave Shemmans, CEO, Ricardo;Richard Steeves, Group CEO, Synergy Health;Graham Curren, CEO, Sondrel;Lucy Neville-Rolfe CMG, Executive Director, Tesco;Stuart Popham, Chair, TheCityUK; Douglas Caster CBE, CEO, Ultra Electronics;Vernon Ellis, Chair, British Council;Julie Southern, CCO, Virgin Atlantic Airways;Sandie Dawe MBE, CEO, VisitBritain;Bob Wigley, Chairman, Yell Group plc;Anthony Habgood, Chairman, Whitbread Group PLC/Reed Elsevier;Marcus Agius, Group Chairman, Barclays;John Fallon, CEO International Education, Pearson;John Paterson, President, Rolls-Royce Marine;Ian Irvine, Co-founder and Technical Director, SgurrEnergy;Peter Voser, CEO, Shell;George Weston, CEO, Associated British Foods;Peter Sands, Group CEO, Standard Chartered;Tim Breedon, Group CEO, Legal & General;David Nish, CEO, Standard Life;Richard Lambert, Director General, CBI;Sir Philip Hampton, Chairman, Royal Bank of Scotland;Joan MacNaughton, Senior Vice President, Alstom Power;Jean-Michel Aubertin, CEO, Doosan Power;Neil MacGregor, Director, British Museum;Sir Mark Jones, Director, Victoria & Albert Museum;Pat Howarth, Head Teacher, Hummersknott School;Prof David Greenaway, Vice Chancellor, University of Nottingham;Elizabeth Reid, Chief Executive, Specialist Schools and Academies Trust;Prof Steve Smith, President, Universities UK and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Exeter and Chris Morecroft, President, Association of Colleges.

Gross Domestic Product

Lord Barnett: To ask Her Majesty's Government what is their latest estimate of the percentage of gross domestic product which will be represented by the National Debt in 2015.

Lord Sassoon: The Office for Budget Responsibility, in its November 2010 Economic and Fiscal Outlook, forecast public sector net debt as a percentage of gross domestic product for 2014-15 at 68.8 per cent.
	
		
			 Table 4.1: Fiscal forecast overview 
			  Per cent of GDP 
			  Outturn Forecasts 
			  2009-10 2010-11 2011-12 2012-13 2013-14 2014-15 2015-16 
			 Surplus on current budget -7.6 -7.2 -5.6 -3.9 -2.1 -0.6 0.3 
			 Public sector net borrowing 11.1 10.0 7.6 5.6 3.5 1.9 1.0 
			 Public sector net debt1 53.5 60.8 66.3 69.1 69.7 68.8 67.2 
			 Cyclically-adjusted surplus on current budget -5.3 -4.7 -3.3 -1.8 -0.5 0.5 0.9 
			 Cyclically-adjusted net borrowing 8.8 7.6 5.3 3.5 1.9 0.8 0.3 
			  Changes since June forecast 
			 Surplus on current budget -0.1 0.3 0.2 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.3 
			 Public sector net borrowing 0.1 -0.1 0.1 0.1 0.0 -0.1 -0.1 
			 Public sector net debt1 0.0 -1.1 -0.9 -0.7 -0.7 -0.6 -0.1 
			 Cyclically-adjusted surplus on current budget 0.0 0.1 0.0 0.1 0.1 0.2 0.1 
			 Cyclically-adjusted net borrowing 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.1 0.0 0.0 0.0 
		
	
	1 Debt at end March; GDP centred on end March.

Gross Domestic Product

Lord Barnett: To ask Her Majesty's Government what will be their annual interest payments in 2015 (a) assuming interest rates remain the same as now, (b) assuming they are 1 per cent higher, (c) assuming they are 2 per cent higher, (d) assuming they are 3 per cent higher; and what would be the percentage of gross domestic product represented in each case.

Lord Sassoon: Central government gross debt interest payments for 2009-10 to 2015-16 are published in Table 4.14 of the Office for Budget Responsibility's Economic and Fiscal Outlook (available at: http://budgetresponsibility.independent.gov. uk/econ-fiscal-outlook.html).
	The effect on the debt interest forecast of a rise in gilt rates of 1 per cent is shown in Table 4.20 of the above document. These figures may be scaled up to give larger changes in gilt rates.
	Nominal gross domestic product (GDP) for 2009-10 to 2015-16 is shown in Table 4.2 of the same document. For 2014-15, the tables show central government gross debt interest to be forecast at £58.9 billion and nominal GDP at £1,817 billion.

Gulf War Illnesses

Lord Morris of Manchester: To ask Her Majesty's Government what level of recognition is currently given to the condition "Gulf War Illness" by war pension tribunals.

Lord McNally: EWHC 1359, the High Court held that the Pensions Appeal Tribunal, now the War Pensions and Armed Forces Compensation Chamber of the First-tier Tribunal in England and Wales (WPAFCC) did have power to decide whether "Gulf War Syndrome" was a proper diagnostic label for a claimant's conditions.
	As an independent judicial body, the WPAFCC reaches its decisions on appeals against the rejection of claims in respect of "Gulf War Syndrome" on the basis of the evidence before the tribunal in each individual case. The WPAFCC has accepted "Gulf War Syndrome" as a diagnostic label in a number of appeals.

Health: Drugs

Lord Taylor of Warwick: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they will provide more funding for research into the side effects of anti-depressant medication.

Earl Howe: The Government's recent Spending Review confirmed that the department will increase spending on health research in real terms, through the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR).
	The department's NIHR welcomes applications for support into any aspect of human health. These applications are subject to peer review and judged in open competition, with awards being made on the basis of the scientific quality of the proposals made. In all disease areas, the amount of NIHR funding depends on the volume and quality of scientific activity.

Health: Drugs

The Earl of Sandwich: To ask Her Majesty's Government who are the members of the newly established "Steering Group of Officials" in the Department of Health who will review benzodiazepines and other prescribed drugs; and whether they will co-opt experienced practitioners from outside the Department.

Earl Howe: The steering group of officials is overseeing the work on addiction to medicines. This involves ensuring that the activities of different business units are co-ordinated and overseeing the current evidence-gathering.
	Once the collection of information is completed, we will be engaging widely, including with experienced practitioners, to determine the future direction of policy and service planning.
	The membership of the steering group takes account of all the relevant policy areas within the department and its arm's-length bodies. It includes officials and experts representing drugs policy, mental health, pharmacy issues, the National Treatment Agency for Substance Misuse and the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA).
	In line with freedom of information rules, the department's policy is that the names of officials should be withheld from disclosure unless they are members of the Senior Civil Service or have a high profile that would justify release. The names have therefore been edited accordingly.
	
		
			 Organisation Title Name 
			 Department of Health Deputy Director Alcohol and Drugs Chris Heifer 
			 Department of Health Senior Medical Officer, Drugs and Alcohol Dr Mark Prunty 
			 MHRA Group Manager, Therapeutic Review Jeremy Mean 
			 Department of Health Deputy National Clinical Director for Mental Health in England Hugh Griffiths 
		
	
	There are six other members of the steering group below Senior Civil Service level.

Health: Mammograms

Lord Taylor of Warwick: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they will offer annual mammograms to women over the age of 40.

Earl Howe: Under the National Health Service breast screening programme, women aged between 50 and 70 are invited for free breast screening every three years, and we are in the process of extending the programme to invite women aged 47 to 73. These arrangements are based on the best available evidence and are in line with the recommendations of the World Health Organisation's International Agency for Research on Cancer.
	The Royal College of Radiologists Breast Group recommends that screening for women aged 40 to 49 is not routinely done except under specific circumstances, such as increased risk of breast cancer because of family history.
	The independent Advisory Committee for Breast Cancer Screening, which advises the Government on breast screening policy in England, regularly reviews any new data or studies that are published about the effectiveness of breast screening.

Health: Strokes

Lord Wills: To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of the Act FAST campaign to recognise stroke symptoms.

Earl Howe: Evaluation of the Act FAST stroke awareness campaign showed that it successfully achieved a rapid change in behaviour. Within a year, an estimated 9,864 more people reached hospital faster, 642 of whom were saved from death or serious disability by receiving thrombolysis. The evidence demonstrated that the campaign achieved a payback of £3.16 for every £1 spent. On this basis, the agency submitted an entry to the 2010 Institute of Professional Advertisers Effectiveness Awards and, in November, achieved a Gold Award.

Higher Education: Funding

Lord Taylor of Warwick: To ask Her Majesty's Government how they will increase understanding of the specifics of the Higher Education funding policy amongst students.

Lord Henley: The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills will ensure that full and clear information about the higher education funding policy is available to all current and potential students. We will make sure that accurate information is available through all sources of information, advice and guidance-in universities, schools and colleges; online; through careers advisory services; and through organisations such as the Student Loans Company and the University and Colleges Admission Service (UCAS). We will also work with student bodies to ensure that students are encouraged to ask universities about their financial arrangements and the quality of their teaching, including the employability of their graduates.

Highways Agency: Traffic Officers

Lord Jopling: To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of what savings to public expenditure would be made by abolishing the Highways Agency's Traffic Officer Service, after allocating to the police as much of that saving as would be necessary to fulfil the Traffic Officer Service's present responsibilities.

Earl Attlee: We have made no assessment of abolishing the Traffic Officer Service as there is currently no intention to transfer their responsibilities back to the police.

Holy See

Lord Laird: To ask Her Majesty's Government how much the British Embassy in the Holy See has cost in each of the last five years.

Lord Howell of Guildford: The cost of our Embassy to the Holy See in each of the last five years was:
	2009-10-£675,101;2008-09-£643,023;2007-08-£559,665;2006-07-£391,281; and2005-06-£412,096.
	The figure for 2009-10 excludes impairment charges resulting from the revaluation of the Holy See estate.
	Impairment cost is the accounting charge that arises from the reduction in the value of a property below its original cost. It is a notional charge that will only be realised if the property is sold. It is not cash expenditure and is not within the control of the Embassy, since property valuations and exchange rates can fluctuate.
	In 2008-09, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) commissioned a number of building inspections by chartered surveyors from the Valuation Office Agency. The Valuation Office surveyors changed the method of valuation for many buildings in Rome from a market-value-based approach to a depreciated replacement cost approach, to reflect the true cost to the FCO of replacing these assets. This led to a nominal increase in the total value of the FCO's assets in Rome in 2008-09.

House of Commons: Staff

Lord Bach: To ask Her Majesty's Government what is the estimated cost of making redundant staff employed by 50 MPs as a result of reducing the size of the House of Commons.

Lord Taylor of Holbeach: Where staff employed by MPs are made redundant for any reason they are entitled to receive redundancy payments, depending on the length of their service and individual terms of employment. Following the 2010 general election, the average redundancy payment was £880. It has not been possible to estimate the staffing implications directly attributable to the reduction in the number of MPs.

Houses of Parliament: Members

Lord Laird: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they intend to legislate to prevent members of devolved assemblies from also being members of the House of Commons or House of Lords; and if so, what assessment they have made of whether such a policy would contravene the European Convention on Human Rights.

Lord McNally: The Government have no present plans to legislate on these matters. In Northern Ireland, where there is a significant overlap in membership between the Legislative Assembly and the House of Commons, they are seeking agreement to bring this practice to an end. While they would prefer this to happen by consensus, they are willing to bring forward legislation should that consensus not arise. Any such legislation would be fully assessed for compliance with the ECHR. The Government will deal with the question of dual mandates for the House of Lords as part of their comprehensive proposals for House of Lords reform.

Housing

Lord Bradley: To ask Her Majesty's Government how many of the proposed new affordable homes will be built in (a) Greater Manchester, and (b) the City of Manchester, in each of the next four years.

Baroness Hanham: I refer the noble Lord to the answer given by the Parliamentary under Secretary of State for the Department of Communities and Local Government to Mr Jim Cunningham MP on 29 November 2010, Official Report, Commons, cols. 470-471W.

Housing Benefit

Lord Taylor of Warwick: To ask Her Majesty's Government when the cap on housing benefits for tenants in private rented housing will take effect.

Lord Freud: The cap on local housing allowance rates will come into force for new claims on 1 April 2011. Existing customers will be protected against this change for nine months from the date the local authority reviews the claim, providing there is no relevant change in their circumstances in the meantime.

Housing Benefit

Baroness Thomas of Winchester: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether existing housing benefit claimants who increase their earnings to the extent that they are no longer eligible for housing benefit will receive any transitional protection if they become redundant and have to reapply for housing benefit after 1 April 2011.

Lord Freud: We are providing nine months' transitional protection to existing claimants from the point they are affected by the changes we are making to local housing allowance rates from April 2011. There are no linking provisions to reinstate the transitional protection if the claimant ceases to be entitled to housing benefit and then reapplies during the nine-month period.

Human Rights

Baroness Tonge: To ask Her Majesty's Government what representations they have made to the European Union concerning the adherence to human rights clauses in European Union Association agreements by countries party to those agreements.

Lord Strathclyde: The number of QWAs answered, per calendar year, as of 3 December were as follows;
	
		
			 2008 5263 
			 2009 6020 
			 2010 (pre election) 2375 
			 2010 (postelection) 3644

Iceland

Lord Myners: To ask Her Majesty's Government what rate of interest receivable is assumed in national accounts in respect of the debt owed by Iceland to the United Kingdom; and where this income and the attendant funding cost appear in national accounts.

Lord Taylor of Holbeach: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the authority to reply.
	Letter from Stephen Penneck, Director General for ONS, to Lord Myners, dated December 2010.
	As Director General of the Office for National Statistics, I have been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Question asking Her Majesty's Government on what rate of interest receivable is assumed in national accounts in respect of the debt owed by Iceland to the United Kingdom; and where this income and the attendant funding cost appear in national accounts. [HL4676]
	The Office for National Statistics (ONS) produces statistics according to internationally agreed national accounts standards.
	Lord Sassoon's response to your earlier parliamentary question on this subject (HL2846) explained that discussions are ongoing to reach agreement with Iceland to repay the loan made by the previous government in respect of Iceland's obligations under the Deposit guarantee Directive to UK depositors in Icesave. At the present time, agreement has not yet been reached between the UK and Icelandic governments on the nature and timing of the settlement of the Icelandic debt. Consequently, there is no rate of interest yet assumed within the UK national accounts.
	The treatment of the financial crisis within the UK national accounts and the UK public sector finances is detailed in a 2009 ONS article Public Sector Interventions in the Financial Crisis: Statistical Classification Decisions available at: http://www.statistics.gov.uk/articles/nojournal /Financial-crisis.pdf. The specific impacts of the Landsbanki Islands of London branch and the Icesave internet product are detailed in Chapter 13 of that article.
	When agreement has been reached on the mode of repayment, including any agreed interest payments, ONS will consider the most appropriate recording of the relevant transactions.
	The national accounts do not identify separately the attendant funding costs of the UK's assistance to Iceland. As explained in Chapter 31 of the ONS article above, these relate to the interest costs incurred by the UK government resulting from the borrowing it undertakes to fund financial sector interventions. Such additional borrowing is undertaken as a part of the government's general financing programme. Within the National Accounts, interest on central government borrowing appears as variable RVFK in the 'uses' section of the central government 'allocation of primary income account' - see for example Table 5.2.3 of the National Accounts Blue Book 2010, available at www.statistics.gov.uk/statbase/product.asp?vlnk=1143.

Inflation

Lord Myners: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether all income levels by decile are currently experiencing similar levels of price inflation.

Lord Taylor of Holbeach: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the authority to reply.
	Letter from Stephen Penneck, Director General for ONS, to Lord Myners dated December 2010.
	As Director General for the Office for National Statistics, I have been asked to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question asking whether all income levels by decile are currently experiencing similar levels of price inflation [HL4447].
	The Office for National Statistics (ONS) produces two main measures of consumer inflation, the consumer prices index (CPI) and the retail prices index (RPI). The CPI measures inflation for the UK as a whole whilst the RPI inflation measure covers the vast majority of the UK household sector. The construction of the indices focuses on these broad measurement targets, which means that measures of inflation by income decile are not produced as part of the monthly CPI and RPI production process and are therefore not available.
	You may be interested to know that the ONS conducted a special analysis in September 2008 and published estimates of average price changes experienced by households grouped by income decile for the 12 months ending April 2008. This analysis, which was based on the RPI, concluded that there was little variation in the average price change experienced by the different income groups during this period. The full article can be found at: http://www.statistics.gov.uk/cci/article.asp?ID=2049&Pos=1&ColRank=1&Rank=1

Justice: Sentencing

Lord Howard of Lympne: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether any further research has been carried out to bring up to date the result of the survey referred to in Paragraph 25 Appendix 6 of Making Punishments Work-The Result of a Review of the Sentencing Framework for England and Wales (July 2001).

Lord McNally: Surveying Prisoner Crime Reduction (SPCR), a long-term longitudinal study of prisoners sentenced to between one month and four years in England and Wales, updates the Prisoner Criminality Survey1 referred to in Paragraph 25 Appendix 6 of Making Punishments Work-The Result of a Review of the Sentencing Framework for England and Wales (July 2001). The most recent findings were published in the Compendium of Reoffending Statistics and Analysis, which can be found at1wwwjustice.gov.uk/publications/compendium -reoffending.htm.
	The Prisoner Criminality Survey is representative of male prison receptions in Prison Service establishments during February and March 2000, while SPCR is representative of male and female prison receptions in 2005-06.
	1 Budd, T, P Collier, B Mhlanga, C Sharp & G Weir (2005) Levels of Self-Report Offending and Drug Use Among Offenders: Findings from the Criminality Surveys Home Office Online Report 18/05, available at: rds.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/pdfs05/rdsolr1805.pdf

Morocco

Baroness Tonge: To ask Her Majesty's Government what representations they have made to the European Union regarding review of the European Union Association Agreement with Morocco.

Lord Howell of Guildford: Implementation of the Association Agreement is undertaken through the jointly agreed five-year Action Plans outlining the actions expected of both sides on the full range of areas of cooperation. The current Action Plan was agreed in 2005.
	In 2008 agreement was reached with Morocco to upgrade the EU-Morocco relationship with a "Roadmap to Advanced Status". In practice this is reflected in ongoing negotiations on a more ambitious Action Plan to cover 2011-16.
	Delivery against the Action Plan is reviewed annually by the Commission, and now by the European External Action Service. The UK contributes in Rabat and Brussels, and we are clear that a closer relationship with the EU involves expectations on reform as well as economic integration. These assessments are published on the Commission website: www.eeas.europa.eu/morocco/index_en.htm.

Morocco

Baroness Tonge: To ask Her Majesty's Government what proportion of European Union multilateral aid is given to Morocco.

Baroness Verma: This information is publicly available from the European Union's annual report on aid which can be accessed at: http://ec.europa.eu/europeaid/multimedia/publications/index_en.htm.

Morocco

Baroness Tonge: To ask Her Majesty's Government what representations they have made to the European Union concerning the adherence of Morocco to the conditions of the European Union Morocco Association Agreement.

Lord Howell of Guildford: We are actively engaged within the relevant working groups and with colleagues at the EU Delegation in Rabat to monitor and evaluate Morocco's progress and adherence to the terms of the agreement and the action plan.
	Implementation of the association agreement is undertaken through the jointly agreed five-year action plans outlining the actions expected of both sides on the full range of areas of cooperation. The current action plan was agreed in 2005.
	In 2008 agreement was reached with Morocco to upgrade the EU-Morocco relationship with a "Roadmap to Advanced Status". In practice this is reflected in ongoing negotiations on a more ambitious action plan to cover 2011-16.
	Delivery against the action plan is reviewed annually by the Commission, and now by the European External Action Service. The UK contributes in Rabat and Brussels, and we are clear that a closer relationship with the EU involves expectations on reform as well as economic integration. These assessments are published on the Commission website.

National Parks

Lord Clark of Windermere: To ask Her Majesty's Government what annual grants they have made in each of the last ten years to each National Park in England.

Lord Henley: Below is a table listing the grants given to each English national park in each of the past ten years.
	
		
			 National Park 2001-02 2002-03 2003-04 2004-05 2005-06 
			 Broads 2,411,261 2,801,437 3,196,877 3,065,680 3,933,182 
			 Dartmoor 3,127,480 3,721,705 4,177,323 3,965,325 4,308,058 
			 Exmoor 2,582,842 3,059,765 3,518,950 3,290,756 3,616,422 
			 Lake District 4,640,000 5,460,856 6,107,102 6,050,672 6,290,679 
			 New Forest 0 0 0 0 3,517,297 
			 Northumberland 1,928,560 2,419,922 2,882,555 2,702,191 3,010,044 
			 North York Moors 3,565,239 4,224,936 4,677,842 4,678,157 4,933,864 
			 Peak District 6,223,073 6,721,617 7,361,069 7,422,471 7,542,550 
			 South Downs 0 0 0 0 0 
			 Yorkshire Dales 3,442,378 4,583,616 5,237,283 4,580,902 4,906,870 
			 Totals 27,920,833 32,993,854 37,159,001 35,756,154 42,058,966 
		
	
	
		
			 National Park 2006-07 2007-08 2008-09 2009-10 2010-11 
			 Broads 4,025,018 4,126,763 4,304,337 4,322,706 4,229,502 
			 Dartmoor 4,409,116 4,521,078 4,715,643 4,845,323 4,739,642 
			 Exmoor 3,700,466 3,818,578 3,981,834 4,065,647 3,978,580 
			 Lake District 6,440,510 6,606,508 6,890,824 7,330,322 7,171,279 
			 New Forest 3,622,764 3,845,475 4,010,965 4,321,266 4,978,096 
			 Northumberland 3,079,171 3,155,757 3,491,563 3,382,081 3,311,334 
			 North York Moors 5,050,317 5,179,335 5,402,230 5,550,791 5,428,266 
			 Peak District 7,723,177 7,923,294 8,264,281 8,491,549 8,298,814 
			 South Downs 0 0 0 0 8,540,000 
			 Yorkshire Dales 5,022,659 5,150,942 5,372,616 5,520,362 5,398,563 
			 Totals 43,073,198 44,327,730 46,434,293 47,830,047 56,074,076

NHS: Specialist Services

Lord Bradley: To ask Her Majesty's Government what are the specialist services they will ask the NHS Commissioning Board to commission.

Earl Howe: The Specialised Services National Definitions Set (SSNDS) will form the basis for considering which specialised services the Secretary of State will ask the National Health Service commissioning board to commission.
	The SSNDS was recently updated through a long process of consultation which included key clinicians and patient groups.

Northern Ireland: Human Rights Commission

Lord Laird: To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Shutt of Greetland on 23 November (WA 313), concerning appointments to the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission, whether the Secretary of State makes appointments which reflect the community; and what headings they use to identify such appropriate groups.

Lord Taylor of Holbeach: Section 68(3) of the Northern Ireland Act 1998 requires that in making appointments to the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission the Secretary of State must, as far as practicable, secure that the commissioners as a group are representative of the community in Northern Ireland. In exercising his power to appoint commissioners under Section 68(3), the Secretary of State must also have due regard to his duty to promote equality of opportunity between groups prescribed in Section 75 of the Act.
	The Secretary of State has complied with these obligations in every appointment that has been made to the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission.

Parliamentary Constituencies

Lord Bassam of Brighton: To ask Her Majesty's Government what is the forecast cost of completing a full review by the boundary commissions of all parliamentary constituencies by 2013.

Lord Taylor of Holbeach: Our current estimate for the conduct of the forthcoming boundary review under the provisions of the PVSC Bill is £11.2 million. The precise cost will depend on the operational decisions which are taken during the course of the review by each of the four boundary commissions.

Parliamentary Constituencies

Lord Bach: To ask Her Majesty's Government what forecast they have made of the annual additional costs that will be incurred by MPs taking on enlarged constituencies.

Lord Taylor of Holbeach: Although some Members of Parliament will see an increase in the number of constituents, others will see a decrease. More than a third of the existing constituencies are within the range envisaged by the Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Bill (on the basis of the 2009 electoral register), and over 40 are larger. Decisions regarding rates of allowances for Members of Parliament in a 600-seat House of Commons will be a matter for the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority.

Planning

Lord Williams of Elvel: To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of whether Natural England have satisfied the provisions of Section 3 of the Natural Environment and Rural Communities Act 2006 to consult such bodies as have an interest in planning application DCNW2008/1289/F to Herefordshire County Council.

Lord Henley: Section 3 of the Natural Environment and Rural Communities Act 2006 requires Natural England to consult other bodies when it is reviewing matters that relate to its general purpose. Defra assesses whether Natural England has satisfied this provision as part of its ongoing monitoring of the performance of Natural England. We do not believe that the provisions of Section 3 apply to individual planning applications.

Planning

Lord Williams of Elvel: To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of whether the response of Natural England to planning application DCNW2008/1289/F to Herefordshire County Council is consistent with its obligations under Section 2 of the Natural Environment and Rural Communities Act 2006 on conserving and enhancing the landscape.

Lord Henley: This Government have not made any assessment of Natural England's advice. Further, it would not be appropriate for the Government to comment on the merits of a planning application. To do so could prejudice a decision should an application subsequently come before Ministers; for example, on appeal.

Prisoners: Work

Lord Howard of Lympne: To ask Her Majesty's Government how many prisoners in England and Wales carried out work in each of the years 1990-2010.

Lord McNally: We are proposing to make prisons places of hard work and industry. As part of this, we are looking to expand the prisoner working week to up to 40 hours within prison industries which we estimate currently provides the equivalent of about 9,000 FTE places for prisoners per day in just under 400 workshops. A significant number of prisoners also work in functions such as catering, cleaning and land-based activities. We also want to make it easier for the private sector to get involved in training, providing work and employing prisoners on release.
	These plans will increase the number of prisoners engaged in meaningful and productive work, help replicate the working week and instil dignity, a work ethic and discipline, and through improving skills for sustained employment aid rehabilitation on release. This will form part of our wider plans for reform, details of which will soon be published in a Green Paper for consultation.

Prisons: Population

Lord Taylor of Warwick: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they plan to reduce the prison population by 3,000.

Lord McNally: The Government will always provide enough prison places for those whom the courts judge should receive a custodial sentence. The Ministry of Justice recently published a Green Paper setting out proposals to reform sentencing and rehabilitate offenders more effectively. The Government's expectation is that if these proposals are implemented successfully, the prison population should be around 3,000 lower than it is today by 2014-15.

Railways: Fares

Lord Touhig: To ask Her Majesty's Government what impact they expect their decision to raise the cap on regulated rail fares will have on the environment.

Earl Attlee: The Government are committed to ensuring that transport plays a full role in delivering the UK's climate change targets. We will continue to monitor the carbon impact of policy and investment decisions to ensure we remain on course to deliver those targets. Emissions of greenhouse gases from the transport sector are projected to fall significantly over the coming decade, in large part as a result of improvements to the fuel efficiency of new vehicles and the uptake of low carbon fuels.
	The Department for Transport has not made a detailed estimate of the likely effects of increases in rail fares on transport emissions, but the overall impact is likely to be small. The fare increase was one element of the spending review announcement. Other measures such as the local sustainable transport fund and the package of support for ultra low carbon vehicles are expected to lead to reductions in carbon emissions.

Railways: Fares

Lord Touhig: To ask Her Majesty's Government what assurances they have received from train operators regarding (a) new rolling stock purchases, and (b) improving passenger conditions, prior to raising the cap on regulated rail fares.

Earl Attlee: The scale of the deficit has meant we have had to take some tough decisions on rail fares. Under the rules in the franchise agreements the increase in the regulated fares cap will help the Government to deliver priority capacity improvements on the rail network to relieve overcrowding on routes into major cities. For example, the Government propose to deliver more than 2,100 new rail carriages onto the network by 2019.
	The Government will now enter into discussions with the franchise operators about the allocation of 650 further carriages to them by 2014 and changes to the franchise agreements to implement the new fares regulation rules.

Railways: High Speed 2

Viscount Astor: To ask Her Majesty's Government what is the estimated cost to public funds of the proposed High Speed Two rail route.

Earl Attlee: The construction cost of the Government's preferred high speed rail network from London to the West Midlands, Leeds and Manchester, including links to Heathrow and HS1, is estimated to be around £33 billion. No decision has yet been made as to what part, if any, of the funding requirement might come from private sources.

Railways: High Speed 2

Viscount Astor: To ask Her Majesty's Government what forecast they have made of power or fuel usage of the new proposed high speed trains compared with current Intercity trains on the High Speed Two route.

Earl Attlee: HS2 Ltd assume that the power consumption of the high speed trains operating along HS2 infrastructure will be in the range 0.041 to 0.055 kWh per seat km. Further information on the underlying assumptions is available in the HS2 Traction Energy Modelling report available at www.hs2.org.uk/assets/x/56774. Pendolinos operating today are in the range of 0.031 to 0.033 kWh per seat km. However, the energy performance per passenger km is highly dependent on the level of passenger loading achieved.

Roads: A1

Lord Stevens of Kirkwhelpington: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether the widening of the A1 north of Newcastle will be prioritised if the road is designated as a Strategic National Transport Corridor.

Earl Attlee: A consultation was launched on 16 September proposing a change to the national networks definition, which recognises road and rail connectivity with this and other capital cities. This will result in the identification of roads, including the Al between Newcastle and the Scottish border as being of national significance. This change does not guarantee funding for major improvements; it recognises the strategic importance of the route for freight and other traffic travelling between Newcastle and Edinburgh.
	In a separate study, we are considering the priority of improvements on this route. We will then consider these, alongside other programmes, in the light of available resources.

Rome: British Embassy

Lord Laird: To ask Her Majesty's Government how much the British Embassy in Rome has cost in each of the last five years.

Lord Howell of Guildford: The cost of our Embassy in Rome for each of the last five years was:
	2009-10-£10,978,363;2008-09-£10,907,234;2007-08-£9,601,594;2006-07-£9,590,323; and 2005-06-£9,492,625.
	The figure for 2009-10 excludes impairment charges resulting from the revaluation of the Rome estate.
	Impairment cost is the accounting charge that arises from the reduction in the value of a property below its original cost. It is a notional charge that will only be realised if the property is sold. It is not cash expenditure and is not within the control of the Embassy, since property valuations and exchange rates can fluctuate.
	In 2008-09, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) commissioned a number of building inspections by chartered surveyors from the Valuation Office Agency. The Valuation Office surveyors changed the method of valuation for many buildings in Rome from a market-value-based approach to a depreciated replacement cost approach, to reflect the true cost to the FCO of replacing these assets. This led to a nominal increase in the total value of the FCO's assets in Rome in 2008-09.

Royal Family: Overseas Visits

Lord Oakeshott of Seagrove Bay: To ask Her Majesty's Government what was the cost to the taxpayer of the Duke of York's overseas visits in his capacity as the United Kingdom Special Representative for International Trade and Investment in support of UK Trade & Investment in each year since he was appointed as Special Representative in October 2001, broken down so far as possible by country visited.

Baroness Wilcox: A list of overseas visits undertaken since October 2001 by HRH The Duke of York in his role as the UK Special Representative for International Trade and Investment, in agreement with and in support of UK Trade & Investment (UKTI) objectives, is contained in the following tables.
	
		
			 An account of expenditure paid from UKTI budgets for overseas visits undertaken by HRH The Duke of York in fulfilling his role as the UK Special Representative for International Trade and Investment from 1 October 2001 until 31 March 2010: 
			 Year Date of visit Country Amount (£,000) 
			 2002 4-9 Feb 02 South Africa 26.4 
			  18-21 Mar 02 Germany and Switzerland 15.7 
			  2-10 May 02 USA 27.8 
			  25-26 Jun 02 France 4.7 
			74.6 
		
	
	
		
			 2003 29-30 Jan 03 Greece 4.7 
			  12-13 Feb 03 France 4.7 
			  9-13 Sept 03 Poland and Czech Republic 19.9 
			  23-27 Sept 03 Kazakhstan 5.2 
			  19-26 Oct 03 USA 47.3 
			  27 Nov-8 Dec 03 UAE and Kuwait 75 
			156.8 
		
	
	
		
			 2004 09-Jan 04 Italy 16.9 
			  08-Mar 04 Spain 5.8 
			  26 Mar-4 Apr 04 Bahrain, Qatar and Oman 74.6 
			  19-25 Apr 04 China, Japan and Russia 50.1 
			  24-26 May 04 Turkey 8.2 
			  07-Sep-04 Sweden 2.6 
			  25-27 Oct 04 Russia 27.9 
			  3-9 Oct 04 USA 25.1 
			  24 Nov-5 Dec 04 Malaysia, Singapore and Philippines 49.6 
			  22-23 Nov 04 Italy and Switzerland 3.5 
			264.3 
		
	
	
		
			 2005 12-27 Feb 05 UAE, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Oman and Qatar 14 
			  4-5 Apr 05 Germany 2.9 
			  18-25 Apr 05 Japan 1.9 
			  17-18 May 05 France 4.2 
			  11-14 Oct 05 Slovakia and Hungary 4.4 
			  28-30 Nov 05 Egypt 8.2 
			  13-17 Nov 05 South Korea 11.5 
			47.1 
		
	
	
		
			 2006 21-25 Jan 06 UAE and Bahrain 14.1 
			  14-Feb 06 Spain 4 
			  25 Mar-2 Apr 06 China and Hong Kong 37 
			  3-7 Jun 06 Vietnam 10.9 
			  3-7 Jul 06 Kazakhstan 8 
			  25-30 Sept 06 USA 23 
			  29 Oct-4 Nov 06 India 21.3 
			  23-24 Nov 06 Philippines 8 
			126.3 
		
	
	
		
			 2007 25-27 Jan 07 Switzerland 3.9 
			  05-Feb-07 Ireland 0.8 
			  12-13 Feb 07 Spain l 
			  26-27 Feb 07 Germany l 
			  28 Feb-13 Mar 07 Qatar, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain and Oman 18.1 
			  11-18 Apr 07 Brazil 30.9 
			  28 May-1 Jun 07 Japan 22 
			  07-Jun-07 Belgium 0.02 
			  27-29 Aug 07 Singapore 16.4 
			  03-Sep 07 Qatar 0 
			  1-4 Oct 07 Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan 6.6 
			  23-26 Oct 07 UAE 2.3 
			  1-10 Nov 07 Morocco, Libya and Algeria 20 
			123 
		
	
	
		
			 2008 13-15 Jan 08 Egypt 8.8 
			  20-22 Jan 08 UAE 1.2 
			  23-25 Jan 08 Switzerland 5.8 
			  5-16 Feb 08 USA 58.4 
			  2-7 Mar 08 Indonesia 9.1 
			  9-15 Mar 08 India 20.5 
			  30 Mar-3 Apr 08 Kuwait, Qatar, UAE and Jordan 9.3 
			  18-20 May 08 Egypt 13.3 
			  30 Jun-1 Jul 08 Italy 6 
			  5-12 Sept 08 Vietnam and Singapore 27.6 
			  28 Sept-3 Oct 08 South Korea 11.5 
			  29 Oct-7 Nov 08 Mongolia, China and Turkmenistan 30.3 
			201.8 
		
	
	
		
			 2009 28-30 Jan 09 Switzerland 21.7 
			  17-18 Feb 09 Russia 3.9 
			  14-20 Mar 09 Saudi Arabia, I3ahrain and Kuwait 8.1 
			  18-21 May 09 Algeria and Tunisia 4.7 
			  1-4 Jun 09 Azerhaijan 7.6 
			  22-24 Jun 09 USA 11.7 
			  22-24 Sept 09 Saudi Arabia 0.4 
			  29 Sept-8 Oct 09 Singapore, Vietnam and Thailand 31.1 
			  24 Oct-4 Nov 09 Egypt, Qatar, UAE and Oman 33.8 
			  14-16 Dec 09 Russia 5.9 
			128.9 
		
	
	
		
			 2010 27-29 Jan 10 Switzerland 19.2 
			  7-12 Feb 10 Mexico and Panama 9.0 
			  8-13 Mar 10 India 12.8 
			  23-26 Mar 10 China 7.7 
			  26-28 Mar 10 UAE 8.1 
			56.8

Schools: Reading

Lord Taylor of Warwick: To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact on children's education of the new national reading test for six-year-olds.

Lord Hill of Oareford: The phonics screening check is designed to check that children have grasped the basics of phonic decoding by the end of Year 1. Children who do not reach the expected standard should receive extra support from their school to help them catch up.
	It is too early to assess accurately the impact of the new phonics screening check on improving standards. We intend to collect data on national performance on the screening check and track standards over time.

Shipping: Towing Vessels

Lord MacKenzie of Culkein: To ask Her Majesty's Government how many times the services of the Coastguard emergency towing vessel based in Stornoway have been required since 1 September.

Earl Attlee: Since 1 September 2010, the emergency towing vessel (ETV) based in Stornoway has been tasked to assist two vessels in difficulty; namely "HMS Astute", a submarine, and "MV Red Duchess", a coaster. On both occasions, the ETV operated under a commercial towing contract with the ETV owners. The ETV has also been tasked to provide a passive escort service for Minch transits on 27 occasions (as part of its MCA contract). At no time has a passive escort ever needed to attach a line because a ship has got into difficulty.

Shipping: Towing Vessels

Lord MacKenzie of Culkein: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether the costs of the use of Coastguard emergency towing vessels in assisting vessels in difficulty in distress are recovered from the ship's owners and/or insurers.

Earl Attlee: The Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) do not recover the cost of attending incidents where there is grave and imminent risk to life, although it would be very unusual for these types of situation to involve the use of an emergency towing vessel (ETV). When a ship gets into difficulties and is within reasonable distance of an ETV, an ETV may be tasked to stand by in the event that tug assistance would help to prevent pollution. In these cases, it is usual for the ETV contractor to provide towage services on commercial terms.
	The safe operation of a ship is at all times the responsibility of the Master. Should a ship become disabled and be incapable of navigation, to the extent that it presents a potential threat to safety of life and/or the maritime environment within UK waters, the MCA would encourage the Master to take all necessary action to reduce or mitigate the risk. This action may include the owner of the ship arranging a commercial tow through a contract for towage services or on salvage terms.

Transport: Survey

Lord Bradshaw: To ask Her Majesty's Government when was the last time the Department for Transport website was the subject of a user survey; what were the recommendations arising from this survey; which of those recommendations were implemented; and when they were implemented.

Earl Attlee: The most recent user survey for the corporate departmental website www.dft.qov.uk was completed in September this year. The survey was carried out in accordance with the guidance issued by the Central Office of Information, "TG126 Measuring website quality". The data from this survey will be reviewed alongside other sources of user feedback captured. Recommendations will be considered and taken forward into a more comprehensive review of the site and information architecture to be carried out next year.

UK Bill of Rights

Lord Taylor of Warwick: To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to introduce a British Bill of Rights.

Lord McNally: As I explained in my answer to the noble Lord on 23 November, (Official Report, col. WA307), in its Programme for Government, the Government committed to establishing a Commission to investigate the creation of a Bill of Rights. The Government will make a statement to Parliament on the terms of reference of the Commission in due course.

UK Investment: Foundation X

Lord Myners: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they will be advising the police of any matters in connection with the organisation described by Lord James of Blackheath as Foundation X.

Lord Sassoon: HM Treasury has looked into the issues raised by Lord James of Blackheath and decided not to pursue the matter any further.

Vehicles: Lorry Semi-trailers

Lord Berkeley: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether lorry semi-trailers up to 2.05 metres longer than the current maximum permitted by European Directive 96/53 EC can operate in (a) the United Kingdom, and (b) the European Union.

Earl Attlee: As the legislation currently stands, these vehicles may not operate in the UK or, for international services, in the European Union. However, member states may authorise the use of such vehicles in their own territory.